Inessentials

I made my first venture to The Space in Hamden, CT, a small venue that was specifically designed to be an all-ages venue in an state with very few places for the kiddos to hang out. Somehow I had always had a conflict on the nights when previous bands I wanted to see had come through, but I made sure I wasn’t going to miss Thao. While I was well above the median age of the audience, there was a group of six folks older than me that showed up just for Thao’s set. They were absolutely astonished that someone of Thao’s reputation was playing a club that looks like your friend’s basement. (If your friend had really, really great connections.)

Opening for Thao were All the Friends and Magic Man. All the Friends are an experimental indie rock trio from Waterbury, CT. I think these three young guys are still finding their sound. Each song sounded like an ode to a (worthy) influence. There’s the Beirut song, the Radiohead song, the Dirty Projectors song. But what really stands out about them is their very refined musicianship. They have not only the band nerd vibe, they’ve got some serious music chops, and as they continue to grow and explore who they want to become as a band, that underlying talent will give them a chance to make some truly great music. Download All the Friends’ two-song demo.

Magic Man at The Space (from the Magic Man Myspace page)

Magic Man played a boisterous set in the middle position. I always enjoy an indie band that isn’t afraid of dance music, and Magic Man embrace the joy of bodily movement like few bands I’ve seen. The most obvious comparison is to The Killers, but there are elements of Vampire Weekend in the vocals and the drastic tempo swings recall pioneering emo bands like Modest Mouse. Technically a duo, Magic Man played with a four-piece band, but the real hero was the little white Macbook producing a surprisingly smart and full sound, never just bleeps for bleeps sake or drum loops because there isn’t a drummer, but really filling out the sound. I am looking forward to listening to their debut album, which is available for free.

Thao is in the middle of a Northeast mini-tour following a month-long tour of Europe this winter. There is a rush that comes from standing about seven feet from the band with the 2008 best-selling album by a Kill Rock Stars band (Decemberists, Elliot Smith, Deerhoof). And when she said the good folks at Manic Productions had sent them to Miya’s Sushi, well, my worlds collided just a wee bit. (Wouldn’t Thao and Bun Lai have the cutest, most creative little babies ever?)

Thao’s set ran through all the highlights of We Brave Bee Stings and All and Know Better Learn Faster (except “Easy,” which may have been intended for an encore, but the venue was set up in such a way that the band leaving the stage before the encore left the audience confused and prevented us from showing the love to bring them back out). Thao’s music focuses on melodies and rhythms, the melodies nesting in as catchy little earworms and the the rhythms providing foot-tapping, hand-clapping happiness that warms your whole body over. I was happy to see that the Thao and the fellas had provided some different arrangements for the live versions of the songs. I now much prefer the live version of “Violet” to the album version. The songs (unsurprisingly) were immensely fun to sing along with, and the band provided some high-end claps that clearly challenged the audience. (I saw more than a few people shrug and give up. Clapping is hard for white high school kids from the ‘burbs.)

All in all, a pretty great show.

October looks to be a great month for music, probably the best since January of this year. Here’s a preview of what I’m looking forward to listening to this month.

Tuesday, October 6: The Mountain Goats, The Life of the World to Come

John Darnielle, the biggest name in the very small genre of indie lo-fi, structures his annual album around 12 Bible verses, which inform the songs less than they serve as markers for his typically pentetrating lyrics. When he wants, he can let raw emotion scream through better than any death metal band; this makes the album’s highlight Psalm 40:2, where he really cuts loose. Considered by many to be the best lyricist alive, this album is worth a listen (but be warned that his nasally voice will turn some listeners off). Not up to the high standards of The Sunset Tree, but a solid album.

Tuesday, October 13: The Flaming Lips, Embryonic

After delving into prog rock with At War with the Mystics (which doubled as a break-up album written about what an awful person Beck is), this album is reportedly a return to the lushness of The Soft Bulletin, which kicked off their late-career revival. Fingers crossed on this one.

Tuesday, October 13: Thao, Know Better Learn Faster

Vietnamese-American pop songstress Thao returns with her third album. Expect a lot of wonderful hits and some annoying misses. Probably best to download specific tracks from this one, but I’ll give the whole thing a listen and decide.

Friday, October 16: The Twilight Saga: New Moon Soundtrack

No one with a Y chromosome is looking forward to this film, but this soundtrack is pretty intriguing. We’re getting previously unreleased tracks from Thom Yorke, Death Cab for Cutie, The Killers, Sea Wolf, and Bon Iver & St. Vincent, among others. So, yea?

Tuesday, October 20: Sufjan Stevens, The BQE

Non-New Yorkers, rejoice! Sufjan’s massive multimedia project which was commissioned by and ran for a weekend at the Brooklyn Academy of Music is now being released as a double CD/DVD collection. (Be warned that buying this album from iTunes or eMusic means you’ll miss out on the DVD.) Sufjan has complained in recent interviews that no one buys albums any more, so he doesn’t see the point in making them. Let’s prove him wrong, and also see the visual interpretations (hula hoops!) he chooses to accompany his ode to the New York thruway.